


Something you somehow haven't to deserve

by exbex



Series: I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends [2]
Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 08:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22847512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Summary: There are two paths to choose from, and a detour in the mix.
Series: I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642447
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	Something you somehow haven't to deserve

Riley flashed one last attempt at a smile to Liam before she silently stepped outside of his private box and began down the stairs. She hesitated at the entrance to the mezzanine. Would she really be able to focus on _The Magic Flute_ at a time like this?

She blinked. _How is that the question you’re asking yourself right now?_

Her hands began to shake.

Riley breathed, straightened her spine and walked purposefully out to the lobby, and, eyes scanning, out into the streets of Paris. She gave the limo driver a polite smile as he opened the door for her.

She clasped her hands in her lap and focused on her breathing. By the time she exited the limo and made her way back to her private car, she was on autopilot. There was some fortune to having never gotten out of the habit of not unpacking, she mused as she slipped out of her dress and shoes and changed into a nondescript outfit. She was ready to go in a matter of minutes.

Her phone buzzed with a text and she hesitated to look, but the name on the screen made her breath catch. Logan Sanchez. She picked it up and felt a knot forming in her stomach as she read his message. Please call me.

“Logan, if you’re in trouble again, I swear…” She listened as it rang, once, twice, three times.

“I’m not in trouble,” he said as the ringing gave way to a voice she hadn’t had time to miss in the last few months.

“That’s good,” she managed. She switched to Navajo, whether out of paranoia, a sense of homesickness, or relief at hearing Logan’s voice, she wasn’t sure. “Because I’m unemployed at the moment. And I don’t have a fake rich fiancé right now either. And I’m in Paris. But not for much longer.”

Logan seamlessly slipped into Navajo. “That’s…okay, I definitely want to hear the story behind why you’re in France, but…” there was a sigh. “Riley, it’s Walter. He died last night.”

“Oh.” Riley felt the knot in her stomach unravel haltingly, as if her internal organs could sense that this new information, however terrible, was, in its own sick way, a welcome distraction. 

“I’m sorry to tell you over the phone. But Caroline has asked that you and I go to the funeral, if you’re able. I can pull some strings with the airline, but you’ll need to leave as soon as possible. Tonight, really.”

“I’m ready,” Riley replied. “I just need to get to Charles De Gaulle.” 

**

“Now boarding Group A for flight EX 124 for Charlotte.”

Riley looked down at her phone, fingers hovering over the screen in indecision. She sighed and opened up her contacts. Maxwell and Hana deserved something. They all deserved more than something, her conscience reminded her, but right now, she was out almost completely out of fucks to give. And the two of them would surely pass on the message. 

_My foster brother called. Family emergency back home; I won’t be able to travel to Monaco with the Court. I’ll meet back up with you in Shanghai if I can. Expect radio silence; I won’t have cell service the next few days._ She sighed and switched her phone to airplane mode before sliding it into her pocket. 

**

It was nothing short of a miracle that she had managed to sleep on much of the flight to Albuquerque, her dreams random and lacking in any real reminders of the mess she’d made of her life. It was even more miraculous that she’d made it calmly through customs to listen politely to the clerk at the car rental counter, and that she was half an hour into her drive before the tears began to fall, her body shuddering with sobs as she gripped the steering wheel, knuckles stark and white.

Riley thought of the last time she’d spoken to Walter. He had seemed at peace, even if it was the resignation of one who had been worn down by the hand life had dealt. Her relationship with him, by both choice and circumstance, had always been cordial but distant. Still, she wondered what he would say if he knew, if he could see what she’d done with herself.

**

Logan was waiting in the motel lobby. His eyes raked over her face, a small wrinkle furrowing in the space between his brows.

“That is not just jetlag,” he pronounced.

“Astute,” she replied.

“Tacos.” He nodded, decisive. “You need some tacos and….margaritas.”

Riley made a face. “Tacos and beer. Fat Tire, preferably. No margaritas. Nothing is so bad that tequila is called for.”

Logan nodded. “Thank God or the universe or whatever. You look broken. Good to know you’re not shattered.”

**

Logan stared at her over the tops of empty beer bottles. “Riley. That’s…a lot.”

Riley splayed her hands out in front of her on the table and nodded. She met his eyes. “I know.”

He reached for one of the bottles, turning it slowly. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”

Riley slumped in her seat. “Not even remotely.” She paused. “Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. I’m not yet too old to join the police academy in New York. Or I could…I don’t know, move back here and bartend.”

Logan stared at her. “I know you spent the first few years of your life in Roswell, but this is the first time I’ve actually wondered if you’re actually an alien from outer space. Because you’re not the Riley Zane I know.”

She sighed. “So tell me what Riley Zane would do.”

He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table. “She wouldn’t give up until she’d exhausted every lead or possibility. Or…perhaps I should say she wouldn’t give up until…” he waved a hand. “You know, until it was too dangerous to go on.”

Riley folded her arms on the table and buried her face in them. “Cost-benefit analysis.”

“Now there’s the Riley I know. Cold and analytical.”

Riley raised her head and glared. “Potential costs of returning to Court include being dragged through the mud, again. Possibly being killed in an ‘accident’, or otherwise dissuaded through something more extreme than defamation, dragging down innocent people.”

Logan began to count on his fingers. “Potential benefits include pursuing a relationship with whichever one of your friends you’re falling for.” He raised an eyebrow at her stuttered protests. “Don’t even tell me I’m wrong. Also, giving your friends closure and peace of mind, giving yourself closure and peace of mind, clearing your name with the truth, and giving Liam-who, by the way, is now the leader of this country and has some power to protect you, which he will do if he’s even half the man you say he is-a choice in who he wants to marry, and, finally, settling down in a place that you clearly feel is now your home.”

Riley leaned back and blinked. “Damn.”

“I’m smarter than I look.”

Riley looked down. “I just don’t know if I can.”

Logan leaned forward, reaching for her hand. “I’ve got your back, no matter what.”

She felt her eyes brimming with tears. “Really?”

He nodded. “I owe you my life, and a hell of a lot more than that, even. You know this.”

**

Riley took another long drag off of her cigarette as she watched a stray tumbleweed roll by. It was good to be back in the West, but if she were being honest with herself, she was like the tumbleweed-rootless and prone to drifting, and she was too old to blame her circumstances for it.

“Those things will kill you, you know.”

“I smoke like, twelve cigarettes a year.”

“Aren’t they a significant fire hazard?”

“I may be persuaded to quit if you sit here and actually, you know, talk to me instead of lecturing me.”

Logan dropped onto the bench next to her. “What are you thinking about?”

She flicked the ashes off to the side. “I’m thinking that you’re in danger of turning into the literary stereotype of the wise Indian sidekick.”

“Nice dodge. Answer the question.”

“I’m thinking that, as much as I have missed the Southwest, I’m homesick for Cordonia.”

“Mmm hmm. So, that means…”

“It means that Robert Frost was wrong. Home is not the place where if you go, they have to let you in. Or, more likely, it means that he’s right and I’m wrong.”

“What did you say once? Something about how you wanted to live in the place you could do the most good?”

“Are you saying that you think that place is Cordonia?”

“I’m saying that you have to decide where that place is. But I do think you have unfinished business there.”

Riley took another hit off of her cigarette, thinking back to the afternoon before the opera.

_“Do you have a favorite book Riley?”_

_“If I have to choose, it’s probably To Kill a Mockingbird.”_

_“What do you think makes it your favorite? Besides the fact that it’s a great book.”_

_“You know what Atticus Finch says about courage? How courage is knowing you have no chance but seeing it through anyway? That has always spoken to me. Especially when you get to the end of the book. Do you remember the way Heck Tate spares Boo Radley?”_

_“Of course.” Hana furrowed her brow in concentration. “He knew Boo had killed Ewell in order to save Jem and Scout. In his mind, it would be worse to drag Boo Radley through a trial than to claim that Ewell fell on his own knife. That was always a really interesting part; he was using his power as sheriff to break the law, but he finally felt that he was upholding justice; both because Ewell had attacked the children and because Ewell had caused the death of Tom Robinson.”_

_“Exactly. Especially as I’ve gotten older, it speaks to me. Heck Tate says he’s not a good man. And he sees a way to make things right. He doesn’t uphold the letter of the law, but in a way he sees an opportunity to uphold the spirit of justice, or the ideals of it anyway. There’s a certain courage in the way he admits he’s failed at being a good person.”_

**  
Riley sighed as, for the seventeenth time, she checked to ensure she had her passport and boarding pass.

“You’ve got this.” Logan smoothed the lapels of his jacket and gave her a reassuring smile.

Riley returned the smile, squaring her shoulders in resolve. “Noted. Hey, you look dashing in your uniform, by the way. I can’t help but picture you running in slow motion across the tarmac.”

“Well, the plane can’t take off without me, so I usually stick to a brisk walk.” He shrugged. “Hey, you know you can tell me anything, right?”

_I wish I didn’t have to keep any secrets from you._ She smiled. “Yeah, I know.”

**

Riley allowed herself one small sigh of relief as she saw Olivia’s familiar shock of auburn hair on the outskirts of the gathered members of Court. She adjusted her tie and squared her shoulders before strolling up to walk next to her.

Olivia visibly startled before schooling her expression back into her trademark smirk. “And just where did you disappear to the last few days?”

“New Mexico,” Riley murmured. The conservatory had an air of tranquility and it seemed to her that a loudly spoken word would have an effect that would be more akin to the cracking of ice than the rippling of water. “My foster father died, and I went to pay my respects.”

Olivia’s eyes softened. “My condolences.” She hesitated. “Were you two close?”

“Not terribly. But he always did right by me, as much as he could, anyway.”

Olivia nodded, and let her eyes travel over Riley. “A power suit is an interesting choice. I suppose you make pin stripes slightly less boring and passe.”

“Be careful Olivia, that sounded awfully close to a compliment.”

Olivia shrugged. “Well, no one will ever believe you, so…”

Riley bit her lip to keep from laughing.

As the crowed progressed forward, Olivia inclined her head toward the panda enclosure. “Your adoring entourage will be pleased to see you’ve returned.”

“I don’t know, I’m not sure I could hold a candle to baby pandas.”

“Now that is something we can agree on.”

Riley grinned. “I see a certain Ice Queen is being melted by the cuteness.”

“That is not at all what I said.” Olivia scowled.

Riley attempted to school her expression into neutrality. “I missed you Olivia.”

“I still don’t believe you.” Olivia inclined her head toward Maxwell, Hana, and Drake. “Go. They’ve been lost without you.” 

Riley gave a tentative smile. “Yeah. Not sure how I ever left them.” Her smile faltered. _Or if I’m doing the right thing by returning to them now._


End file.
